RUNNER Family Tree DNA Surname Project

Welcome to the RUNNER Family Tree DNA Surname Project.

Group Administrator: Jeffrey Thomas Runner (jrunner1@rochester.rr.com)

New Results (December 2005)—One of the Runner participants and the Renner participant both upgraded to the 25-marker test and match on 24 out of 25 markers, indicating a very high likelihood of a shared ancestor!  See below!

Some Background

Each RUNNER family lineage tells its own unique and interesting story.  For example, mine includes a German family named Lauffer (or Laufer) settling in Maryland in the 1700s, eventually changing their name to Runner, and moving in the early 1800s to what would become West Virginia.  For others, this may include ancestors that at one time spelled their name Renner, as there seem to be many Runner/Renner connections.  And there are certainly many similar Runner stories.  There have been Runner families in the US since the first census was taken in 1790.  At that time there were ten Runner families (heads of household named Runner) in four different counties (Frederick, MD, Lancaster and Philadelphia, PA, and Bertie, NC).  By 1850, the first year that the US census named all family members, there were 249 Runners, now spread out to 40 counties in nine states (four counties in Indiana, four in Kentucky, one in Louisiana, two in Missouri, four in New York, nine in Ohio, eight in Pennsylvania, two in Tennessee, seven in Virginia).  By 1880 there were 493 Runners in 21 of the then 46 states and territories and by 1930 there were 986 Runners in 38 of the then 57 states and territories.  Now, 75 years later, it is likely there are Runners in every state in the US.  Outside of the US, there were only six Runners in the 1881 British census; and the International Genealogical Index lists just a handful of Runners in Germany, France, Switzerland and Sweden.  Thus, it does seem that most Runners are in the US.

Project Goals (subject to change depending on members’ interests)

Though some of the current Runners are probably, like me, descended from that German Lauffer family, given that there were already Runners (as well as Renners) in the 1790 census in places like North Carolina, there are certain to be branches of Runners unrelated to Lauffer-Runners.  Thus, the first goal of this project is to use DNA evidence to clarify the number and connectedness of the various branches of Runners currently living in the US and abroad.  A second goal, important to my branch of the family, is to use DNA evidence to examine the Lauffer surname both in the US and in Germany to further clarify the ancestry of the current Runners descended from Lauffers.  A third goal is to investigate the Renner influence on the Runner family by using DNA to clarify connections between the two surnames.  Fourth, DNA evidence can be used to knock down “brick walls” in genealogical research on the various branches of the Runner family where paper evidence is scarce.  This may be true for Runners and Renners that were in the US before the 1790 census, for Runners that have come to the US since then, as well as for Runners descended from the German Lauffers.

How to Participate

To participate in this project, if you’re a male with the surname RUNNER, LAUFFER or LAUFER, or RENNER please sign up here.  If you’re a female, then ask your brother, father, (male) cousin, etc., with those surnames to join.  Why is this restricted to males?  Here’s how the whole thing works:  the Y chromosome is passed from father to son unchanged, except for a mutation about every 500 generations. Testing the Y chromosome can provide a kind of genetic fingerprint consisting of 12, 25 or 37 numbers. By comparing this fingerprint to others with the same surname, we can determine if they are related.  Since only males carry the Y chromosome, this type of testing only works for males.

Cost

DNA testing is not cheap, though the cost has gone down enough to make it feasible to amateur genealogists like us.  I recommend that anyone joining the project start with the least expensive option, which is $99 plus shipping.  A test kit will be sent to you, containing the materials needed to take a simple cheek swab, which you can then send back for the 12-marker test.  This is the lowest resolution test, but it is sufficient to establish basic relatedness.  If there are groups of us who have identical matches on the 12-marker test, we may choose to upgrade to the 25, or even 37-marker test—no additional cheek swab is necessary, as Family Tree DNA keeps the original sample.  This upgrade provides a higher resolution and can more accurately determine how closely two people are related.  Please, if you’d like to participate and the cost seems prohibitive, at least contact me indicating your interest.  Family Tree DNA provides a mechanism to allow other members to contribute money to the project so that members who cannot afford the cost of testing can still be tested.

More Detail

The following paragraph is edited from material Family Tree DNA sent me; I wanted to share it with everyone so if you’re interested you’ll have the details.

 

Molecular Biologists and population geneticists at the University of Arizona have developed our panels of markers focusing on what we, genealogists, need to obtain out of the test. It is not just throwing any quantity of markers into a panel. Each marker is chosen for its volatility or stability (mutation rate) along with Anthropological information that can be obtained from the markers. That is why our 37-marker test is the highest resolution test available; we are not dealing strictly with quantity, rather with quality.  The next step for your Surname Project is to decide whether you test 12, 25 or 37 markers. Family Tree DNA recommends establishing the Project with the 12-marker Y chromosome test. 12 markers are sufficient to determine whether or not two people are genetically related. In addition, the 12-marker Project price of $99 is more affordable for participants. The value of the 25 or 37 marker test occurs when two participants are related based on the 12-marker test. When participants match with the 12-marker test, the test can be upgraded to 25 markers for an additional fee of $90 and then to 37 for $59. The objective of the upgrade to the 25 or 37 marker test is to further reduce the time frame of the common ancestor between the matching participants. The common ancestor also referred to as the Most Recent Common Ancestor, or MRCA. Typically, participants are very interested in upgrading their 12 marker test to 25 markers when a match occurs. Two individuals are considered related for the 12 marker test if they match 12/12, 11/12, and sometimes with 10/12. In the first two situations, an upgrade to the 25 marker test is recommended.

More Information

I highly recommend that people look around the Family Tree DNA website.  There’s lots of interesting information there about what we can learn from doing this kind of research.  I’ve copied below a table indicating the likelihood of relatedness of two individuals based on how they match according to the different tests.  The leftmost column is number of matches.  Let’s say you and I match on 11 of 12 of the markers; then that means there’s a 50% probability that we’ve got a common ancestor within the past 17 generations; there’s also a 90% chance that we’ve got a common ancestor in the past 39 generations and a 95% chance in the past 47 generations.  So, you can see, even an 11 out of 12 match indicates relatedness, though possibly fairly distant.

 

Probability for Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) (from Family Tree DNA)

Number of matching markers

50% probability
that the MRCA was no longer than this number of generations

90% probability
that the MRCA was no longer than this number of generations

95% probability
that the MRCA was no longer than this number of generations

10 of 10

16.5

56

72

11 of 12

17

39

47

12 of 12

7

23

29

23 of 25

11

23

27

24 of 25

7

16

20

25 of 25

3

10

13

35 of 37

6

12

14

36 of 37

4

8

10

37 of 37

2

5

7

 

I found the following website very interesting and helpful in trying to understand the genetics behind this line of research.  It’s called Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor Calculator and was written by Bruce Walsh, a population geneticist who serves on the Family Tree DNA Scientific Advisory Board.  I also enjoyed reading the book Journey of Man, by Spencer Wells, which discusses the development of Y chromosome DNA research.

Results (December 2005)

We have results from four Runner, one Lauffer and one Renner DNA 12 marker tests.  The first three Runner participants match on all 12 markers; the Lauffer participant matches them on only three.  This means that it is unlikely that the Lauffer participant and the three original Runner participants share a common ancestor.  The Renner participant matches these Runners on only four markers and matches the Lauffer participant on six.  This means that it is unlikely that the Renner participant is related to either the first Runner participants or the Lauffer participant. A new Runner participant has been tested and matches the first Runner participants on only five markers, strongly suggesting they are not from the same family. However, the new Runner and the Renner participant, who both recently upgraded to the 25-marker test, match on 24 of 25 markers. This means that there is a very good chance of relatedness between them (95% probability in the past 20 generations).

 

Kit Num

Name

Haplo

393

390

19

391

385a

385b

426

388

439

389-1

392

389-2

458

459a

459b

455

454

447

437

448

449

464a

464b

464c

464d

31947

Runner

I

13

22

14

10

13

14

11

14

11

12

11

28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32070

Runner

I

13

22

14

10

13

14

11

14

11

12

11

28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

32824

Runner

I

13

22

14

10

13

14

11

14

11

12

11

28

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

44220

Runner

-

13

24

14

10

11

11

12

12

12

11

13

27

17

9

10

11

11

25

15

19

29

15

16

16

17

37481

Renner

-

13

24

14

10

11

11

12

12

11

11

13

27

17

9

10

11

11

25

15

19

29

15

16

16

17

N2359

Lauffer

R1b

13

25

14

11

12

15

12

12

11

13

13

29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family Tree DNA estimates the haplogroup for the first three Runner participants as I.  Upon further research it appears that they are most likely subclade I1a, which is typical of “Anglo-Saxons”.  The Lauffer participant is estimated to be R1b, which is the haplogroup typical of Western European men.  Family Tree DNA assigned the new Runner to the R1b haplogroup as well. They were not able to reliably assign the Renner participant to a particular haplogroup.

Families

 

Runner

The first three Runner participants are descended from a family of Lauffers that included Michael Lauffer, John Michael Lauffer and Gottlief/Gottlieb Lauffer.  Our DNA results also support the claim that these three participants share a common ancestor.  A 12 out of 12 match means 95% chance of a shared ancestor in the past 29 generations.

 

Runner/Renner

The fourth Runner participant and the one Renner participant are both thought to be descendents of Adam Runner/Renner of Montgomery/Wythe County, VA (d. 1796, Wythe).  Our DNA results also support the claim that they share a common ancestor.  A 24 out of 25 match means a 95% chance of a shared ancestor in the past 20 generations.

 

Lauffer

The Lauffer participant is descended from Christian Lauffer “The Pioneer”.  Though some genealogies place Christian in the same family as Michael, John Michael and Gottlieb, the DNA results suggest this is not correct.